“I just got out of Youth Corrections in Oregon,” says Soul P, “and my mother invited me to go to a youth group meeting. I really went for the girls. But when I got there, they were rapping and that is what caught my attention right off. I met good people, and they embraced me, and I stayed.”

Growing up in the Yesler Terrace neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, Soul P listened to a lot of Gangsta Rap and would rap on the corner, even at an early age.

“When I started rapping at the youth group services for my church, I didn’t really think about doing it full time as a ministry or a way to feed my family. I was just doing it and having fun,” he said. In fact, Soul P revealed that when he first performed at a youth group service, he was so nervous that he could barely remember his verses, stumbling over the words.

But he could see the influence rap music had on the youth, and he wanted to be part of it. “I knew I had the gift and talent to do it. God laid it all out in front of me and I took the steps. God has much more in store for me as an artist than I realized.” Soul P’s music caught on and his records created a buzz. “God was working it all out and I made myself available,” he says, “and now here I am.”

In addition to his music, Soul P uses his own life’s turnaround as an example to his audience. “I am a believer whose life was not always something to believe in,” he says. “I have a duty to shed light to the lost and show that there is hope through my music, but most of all my lifestyle.”

One of Soul P’s favorite Biblical passages is Matthew 6:33. “Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” He explains, “That tells me to focus on God.”

One of the songs on his new record, “Premiere,” called “All I Want,” puts that focus into lyrics. “All I want and need in life is Christ,” explains Soul P. “Everything you need in life from spiritual to material will all be taken care of if you trust in Christ.”

He also writes about everyday life. “I write feel good joints or real personal joints. Or joints about the young man with no father and the young girl who sells herself short for false love,” he says. “Every day there are things I see that shape my thinking. All of it has an impact on how I see things and how I make music.”

“I come from a background where a lot of my family members have not had the chance to do what I do as a man. I have a lot of homies who are dead from senseless acts of violence,” Soul P says. “I am a product of somebody that put his faith in God. And God pulled me out of that and gave me something to really live and die for.”

With his characteristic gift for phrasing, Soul P adds, “So put your faith in God and don’t look back, ‘cause the past can stop your future, if you let it.”

Soul P’s music – and his life -- are messages of hope to those in despair, as he puts it, one listener at a time. “I can relate because at times in my life I feel lost. But through Christ, I realize and understand and believe there is freedom.